


PJO SECRET SANTA: Piper McLean's Annual Christmas Party

by arhat (plantmajor)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Multi, newyears, pjosecretsanta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-15 02:41:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9215165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plantmajor/pseuds/arhat
Summary: for @chasing_jackson on instagram. part of the instagram pjo secret santa 2016.





	

Twas the night before New Year's, when all through the house. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Actually, that's a lie, because in this specific house, quiet was impossible. Music blasted through the rooms, almost breaking the twelve foot windows.

Good thing it was a mansion in the hills of Hollywood, or else all the neighbors would have called the police by now. I mean, even Orlando Bloom got crazy sometimes.

But deep in the house were two teenagers who didn't even want to be there, but who would have thought that Piper McLean's Annual New Year's Party would change their lives for the better.

So there was Annabeth Chase, the school's smarty-pants, up in her best friend's room trying to study to get her mind off the party raging around her.

"You know, Piper," The blonde said, her blonde hair up in a ponytail as usual. "When you said Sleep over for New Year's, I didn't think you meant, Get drunk on New Year's!" 

Piper rolled her kaleidoscope eyes as she sat down on her own bed. She grabbed one of her gray pillows and hugged it tightly. "C'mon, Annabeth, have some fun tonight!" She insisted. "It's your first New Year without.." Her face turned sad. "...you know.."

Annabeth turned to the next page of her book. "I canceled all my plans for this." She said plainly.

"Annabeth, please." Piper sighed. "We both know the only thing you would be doing is be with your family, and you would never be doing that."

"I thought you were holding the party tomorrow! You know, on the first day of the year!"

Piper shrugged, putting a strand of loose hair behind her ear. "I was going to, but then too many people were complaining that they had plans." 

The dark skinned girl looked up at the clock above her desk, where Annabeth sat with a copy of The Prisoner of Azkaban and shrugged. "I mean, it's almost January first anyway. Two hours away."

At this point, Annabeth wasn't listening, too engrossed in her book. "Mmhmm."

Piper rolled her eyes, a smile on her face. "Happy New Year's Eve, Annie." 

And as Piper walked out, she could hear Annabeth mutter, "Don't call me Annie."

Piper laughed, and went down to join the rest of her friends.

Meanwhile, downstairs, one of Piper's friends sat with his bros, a full cup of the spiked punch in his hands. The only reason the skater boy Percy Jackson was even there was to not be home, where his dumb father sat. 

Jason Grace lightly punched Percy's arm. The blonde boy had a small smile in his face, and was squinting slightly.

"Dude!" Grover Underwood shouted over the loud music, slinging an arm around Percy's neck. "Where are your glasses?!"

The obviously tipsy Jason shrugged, almost dropping his drink. "I don't even know!" He shouted back, a lot more louder than necessary. 

"I bet Piper knows." Percy muttered with a smirk, and all the boys around them oohed.

Frank groaned and put his hands on his ears. "Guuuuuys..." He said, his face a bright red. 

"Just because you're a cinnamon roll, Frank, doesn't mean we are." Leo said, trying to turn a napkin and two plastic forks into some kind of bracelet. He hadn't even touched the punch yet, but then again, Leo was always drunk.

"What are you even making, dude?" Jason said, looking at the contraption in Leo's hands.

The apprentice mechanic hesitated, his cheeks turning pink. "It's just.. something."

"Is it for someone?" Percy asked, grabbing the thing from Leo. "Who's the lucky lady?"

Leo's eyes flickered to the corner of the room, but quickly went back to his friends. "It's no one, guys."

Grover looked back at the corner of the room, and almost choked on the plastic cup he had been nibbling on. "Don't tell me— that girl is way out of your league."

Frank frowned. "Who is it?" 

"Who're we talking about?" A voice behind them inquired. 

It was then Piper decided to join in, grabbing Jason's hand. She smirked as the blonde turned a bit red, meeting the eye's of every boy.

"Calypso Nightshade." Grover confirmed, and Leo turned as red as a tomato. "Leo has a cruuuuush."

Piper's eyebrows rose, and giggled a little. "Don't let her sister hear you say that, she's too overprotective over her." 

"Zoë won't care!" Jason shouted, squeezing Piper's hand. "Go get 'er, tiger."

"Please don't talk about Calypso like she's an object waiting to be bought." Another voice chimed in, and Annabeth Chase made herself visible.

Piper grinned when she saw her, letting go of Jason's hand(much to his demise) and slung an arm over her best friend's shoulders. "Nice of you to join us, Annie. You look great in my top." She winked.

Percy never paid much attention to girls in the first place, but he had to admit, Annabeth looked good. She had on some blue jeans, and a white crop top with a see through gray sweater. 

"You couldn't have let me wear anything lessnorte looked down. "Revealing?"

Piper shrugged. "It's not even mine. It's Drew's. She probably left her stuff on my bed again." She answered and motioned to her own outfit: some jeans and a long sleeved shirt. "Like I would wear stuff like that."

Annabeth shrugged. "True. Now, can I go back upstairs?"

Piper groaned, and pulled her away. 

Percy grinned. "Nice girl you got there, Grace."

Jason rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to answer, when Leo interrupted him. "Please, Jackson, we all know you have a crush on Chase."

Percy snorted, averting the boy's gaze. "Like I would like her." He said. It wasn't really a lie. But it wasn't really a truth, either.

It was just.. when Percy looked at her, he felt this feeling in his stomach. But it wasn't love. He was just annoyed with her, and her smartass brain. He didn't dream about her blonde princess curls, her stormy but beautiful grey eyes—

"Yeah, sure." Jason laughed. "You know, you can just tell me and I can Piper to do something."

Percy scoffed. "Let's just talk about somethin' else, okay?"

The other boys shrugged and nodded, but Frank muttered, "He's not denying it."

"OOOOOOOOOOOH!"

The girls had found themselves in the corner where their female friends sat. The same one where Leo was eyeing Calypso Nightshade, but we'll continue with THEM later. 

"Nice of you to join us, Annabeth." Katie Gardner smiled politely, taking a sip of her water. "Don't get a cup of punch."

"Yeah, I figured." Annabeth said, smirking, as she turned her head to look at the Stolls playing their own version of Truth of Dare. "Speaking of the Stolls, when are you going to confess your love to Travis, Miss Gardner."

Katie turned redder than her plastic cup. Hazel Levesque, who sat next to her, laughed a little.

"What about you, Hazel?" Katie shot back, grinning. "Is your New Year's kiss going to be Zhang?"

"Maybe." Hazel muttered as she turned redder than Katie. "We might. God, we just started dating yesterday, guys!"

"You're very old-fashioned." Calypso added, putting an arm around the younger girl.

"Says you, with a sister who talks like Shakespeare!" Piper shouted and Calypso shrugged. 

"True." The amber haired girl said, casting a look at her older sister who was with her own group of friends before turning back to Hazel. "I thought you didn't like parties, though."

"Frank and I were going to go to a restaurant, but we didn't want to spend the first day of school without you guys."

"Awwwwww." Katie cooed, patting Hazel on the head. "You're adorable."

The African American girl rolled her eyes, pretending to be annoyed, but everyone knew she secretly loved it.

"Anyways," Piper interrupted, her back to the other girls and facing towards the Stolls' game. "It seems the boys are going to play. Want to join in?"

Oh my, oh my. It seems things are getting SPICY. [Oh my god, never do that again..] I apologize. Let's continue on! 

"Piper," Katie asked, locking eye contact with the girl. "Truth or Dare?"

Piper's eyebrows shot up, and she smirked. "Dare, go all out." 

"Yikes." Annabeth muttered under her breath. How did she get here? God, she was reading a good book, why did she decide to do this? 

"I dare you to jump on someone's back and pour ice water down their shirt." The first girl said with a smile. 

Piper laughed. "Easy enough," She said, getting up from their little cult circle and grabbing a cup of water(with ice!) before going up behindMatt Sloan.

She jumped on his back and covered his eyes with her free hand. He frowned, the guy he had been talking to laughing himself silly. Piper was on his back for a full ten seconds before removing her arm and pouring the water onto his head.

Serves him right. Annabeth thought, thinking of the times he had stolen her stuff. What a jerk.

"Done." The Cherokee girl said innocently as Matt Sloan stormed out the party behind her. "Frank, truth or dare?"

"Truth." He blurted immediatly and Hazel pat his knee, knowing that it was what she would do too.

"When did you have your first kiss?" 

Frank blushed, as did Hazel. "Two days ago," He fiddled with his shirt collar. "Hazel and I went to the park and.. yeah."

"Was it French?" Connor asked and Piper hit him in the head, saying, "Don't answer that."

"So.. Grover, truth or dare?" 

Grover bit his lip, and looked to his best friend. Percy mouthed dare over and over again, having a really good idea. 

"Dare." Grover said after a minute and Percy leaned over Jason and Annabeth to get to Frank. 

Annabeth groaned and tried to push him off, but no cigar. The boy was too annoying. He was just an annoying rebel. He wasn't anything like her, but Piper still insisted that she liked him. 

Lies...

Right?

Percy stuck his tongue out at Annabeth, before whispering something into an even redder Frank's ear.

"Are you sure?" Frank asked, and Percy nodded. "Fine." He turned back to Grover. "I dare you to make out with Juniper Growth."

Grover let out something like a bleat and a baaa, but got up anyways. There was no way he was going to do the punishments that the Stolls had prepared for people who didn't go along with dares.

Grover went over to another group of girls, known as Hunters, and pulled a giggling Juniper away. Then he kissed her. Juniper kissed back, and then started dragging him away. 

"Looks like he's not coming back." Percy said before bursting into laughter. 

"I'll take his turn, then." Jason said, winking not-so-secretly to Piper, who winked back in return.

"Bro, truth or dare?"

"Dare, bro. I would do anything for you bro."

"Bro..." He turned to Piper. "This'll ruin our bro-ship." 

Percy frowned. What were they planning? After a minute long staring contest, Jason sighed in defeat. 

"Bro, I dare you to be locked in a room with Annabeth for an hour."

"NO WAY!" Percy and Annabeth screamed in unison, their eyes completely wide. 

But it was too late.

Three minutes later. 

Percy sat on the toilet in the bathroom, while Annabeth leaned against the corner. They tried to stay as far away as they could from eachother, but the best they could do was two feet. It was a small bathroom, and it was the only one that didn't have someone throwing up in it. 

"Can we at least try to make a conversation?" Percy tried, trying to keep himself from dying of boredom.

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"C'mon.." He urged, putting on his best pouty face. 

"Why'd I have to be locked up with the most annoying person ever?" She asked herself, banging her head on the door.

"Rude."

"I don't care."

"Why do you hate me me?!"

"I hate everyone, you twat!"

"Why? It's not like anyone did anything to you!"

"It's not about what they did, it's about what they can do!"

"Right, now you're just being selfish."

"How can I be selfish if everything I've ever loved is gone? Forever, if not for a long time? How can I be selfish if my mom doesn't care and my dad and his idiot wife hate me? How can I be selfish if the people closest to me are in the jail, or running away from the police? The only person I can really trust is Piper, and I can't even trust her completely! I've known Thalia and Luke since I was seven. Seven. That's eleven years before Luke tried to hurt me. Eleven years before Thalia shot an officer. Eleven years before my life, which was hanging on by a thread, was cut by those stupid, stupid, god-damn mythology fates!" The blonde took a deep breath, wiping off tears that had started rolling down her cheeks. "I think I deserve to be selfish, mind you." She added quietly.

Percy's eyes were huge. This was the girl his cousin Thalia had been so close to? The girl that Thalia refers to as her saving grace? Oh god, she was crying. He never knew what to do with crying women. His mom told him to try to relate if that happened, but.. would he tell his whole life story to this girl he has disliked for a year now? Well, she just told him some of his. It would only be fair, and to Percy, who's life had been anything but unfair, always wanted to keep the scales of life balanced.

"My mom has Parkinson's disease." Percy started. "She's a— was, at least a writer. She was almost done with her book when.." He laughed sadly. "Her hands shake so bad she can't write, let alone type. I either write it for her when she's okay, or she sometimes uses talk to text. My ex step-dad was abusive. Not much, but he did slap my mom once, then gave me a black eye the next day. He died though, but then my mom got diagnosed and then my dad got back in my life and— he's an idiot. He payed for the hospital, yeah, but he had so much money and he knew about how much we were struggling and only decided to come back when he got divorced a second time. I'm staying at his home, and I just ran away to come here. I'm trying, you know.. for my mom, but.."

"I'm sorry." Annabeth whispered, looking down at her feet. "I'm sorry for yelling."

"No, it's okay.." He bit his lip and got up, averting his eyes. "I'm sorry too."

He took a step forward when he heard Annabeth's quiet sobbing. "Please don't cry." He said, cupping her face in his hands. "I don't like it when pretty girls cry."

Annabeth frowned a little, and looked up at him. Their eyes met, and Percy thought he got the signal that everyone was telling him to look out for when talking to girl. So he leaned in, and instead of kissing lips he kissed painted wood. 

Annabeth had moved out of his way, and he was kissing the door instead. He pulled away, turning around to see her with her fists clenched and looking sangry. You know? Sad and Angry?

"You're just like him!" Annabeth shouted, tears rolling down her face again. "That's what Luke said before he kissed me. Before he broke my arm and pinned me against a wall for no reason at all. That's what he said before he almost killed me!"

"I'm sorry, I thought—"

"I thought we were having a nice moment, too! And the face that we actually got past our differences?" She scoffed, and looked up at the ceiling. "I've been nothing but good all my life! And this is how I get repayed? My idol, my crush, assaulting me, then my best friend almost killing him in return? Then he shot a police man that tried to arrest him with his own gun, and blamed it on Thalia! He's in jail, yeah, but god knows where she is!

She sat down in the tub and closed the shower curtain. Percy took that as a sign not to speak to her till the hour was over. 

And so, just fifteen minutes before the new year began, people were getting ready to celebrate, and kiss the people they loved. Of course this was on purpose. Part of a plan to get Percabeth tomorrow. But it looked like it would fail when...

"Annabeth?" Percy's small voice asked. There was no answer. 

After about half an hour comtemplating, he realized he really did like her. His manly hormones just exploded whemever e was around her, and he'd decided that it wasn't annoyance. He hoped he wasn't wrong.

"I'm sorry.. I just thought.. I like you, Annabeth. And although I tell myself I don't, I do. I just thought.." He shook his head. "Can we just.. start over?"

There was no answer from behind the curtain.

"Hi." Percy continued. "I'm Percy Jackson. I'm 17, and my birthday is August 18. I'm a Leo, but not the Valdez kind, thank god." He waited from some kind of laughter, but only got a slight rustling. He decided to pretend that was a laugh.

"My mom's name is Sally Jackson and she's one of the nicest people ever. She lost her parents in a plane crash, and barely managed to raise me, which is unfair because she deserves to be married to the kindest, richest guy on Earth. She got a book finished and was about to start another but..." He trailed off. "She's started seeing Mr. Blofis, our English teacher. It's pretty awkward, but he understands. And he's helping us with money and just emotional support in general, so he's good for my mom."

"My dad's Poisedon Jackson, the CEO of the NYC Aquarium. He also owns some small ones, and a beach somewhere, and always keeps tabs on us but he doesn't help. It wasn't until six months ago when his second wife left that he started to care. Oh gods, his face when he figured out my mom wasn't single.. Priceless... He's paying bills, and he's offered to pay for my college but I don't want his dumb money. Now I have to live with him for a bit, and he's trying to reconnect and he's just making a fool of himself. After 17 years he decides to be my friend. It's dumb, and so is he." He paused. "This is dumb too. It's like I'm talking to myself. Can you just say something?"

A few seconds passed, and then the purple shower curtain opened a bit, just enough for him to get through. So he jumped in the tub, and sat cross legged in front of Annabeth, who had her arms around her knees. She looked down.

"My name's Annabeth Chase. I'm 17, and older than you." She smirked a little, but it quickly fell apart. "My birthday is July 12th, and I think I'm a Cancer. I don't really care for those things. I was born in New York, to Frederick and Athena Chase. My mom left when I was two. My dad got re-married when I was seven, and his new wife thought I was some kind of monster. He worked too much to notice, and after he had Bobby and Matthew, he started to agree. Said I reminded him too much of mom."

The girl sucked in a breath. "So I ran away, and I met Luke and Thalia, who were just like me. They had dumb families and they ran away. We were inseparable. Then child services picked us up when I was 8 and a half and.. I spent some time in the foster system until I was 9. That was when my 'family' found me. I'm still living with my dad and the step-monster and the stupid boys I'm supposed to call brothers. He wanted to be friends again last year, but I blocked him off. It was 10 years too late."

They made eye contact. It was nice.

"My mom heads an architecture company in California, which almost ruined architecture for me. It's my favorite thing, and it just felt like another way I was alike to her. Another reason for my dad to hate me. She's contacted me a lot since I ran away. She tried to get me to live with her but.. I'm not sure if I trust her a lot. Especially after the Luke incident. I'm not sure I trust anyone anymore and Piper wants me to open but I'm just so scared of getting hurt again—"

Percy cut her off with a hug. She was surprised for a second, but hugged back, leaning into him. It felt right. 

Then Percy's phone rang. They both looked up. It was the alarm, signaling that the hour was over, but with a quick glance to his watch he realized that it was almost time.

"One! Two! Three!" The shouting was so loud you could hear it from China. 

The two lovebirds looked at eachother. They were alone, without their friends.

"...Four! Five! Six!"

Somehow, it didn't seem so bad.

"Seven! Eight!"

They looked at eachother, and a silent agreement passed through them.

"Nine! Ten!"

They leaned in.

"Happy New Year!"

There was no way they were letting any of their friends know about this.


End file.
